The present invention relates to a portable ore washer having a gold panning tray which may be rotated by turning a hand crank. As the ore is moved outwardly across the tray, gold settles into grooves provided in the tray.
Ore washers having a rotatable gold panning tray are known, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,763 to Jenks. Another type of a portable gold washer is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 594,255 to Kahn. These ore washers, and others known in the art, all use centrifugal force to move the ore across a gold panning tray for collecting gold. The present invention is an improvement over the known ore washers because it provides an apparatus for mechanically moving the ore across the rotating gold panning tray in order to separate the gold from the ore.